NCF On The Trail: Oregon State Beavers

Signing day has come and gone and with it an entirely new batch of Pac-12 players is joining the conference (269 players, to be exact).

With the Pac-12 gaining more national recognition, it’s no surprise to see the recruiting trends heading further outside of what was typically considered “Pac-12 territory.”

For example, the most heavily recruited area was -- unsurprisingly -- the West Coast and states that are the home to one or more Pac-12 programs. But right after that, the next-biggest target was the South and Southeast: SEC territory. The Pac-12 signed the same number of recruits from Texas as it did Arizona. Louisiana was a big state for the conference as well -- Pac-12 schools signed 13 players from the Bayou State.

Here’s a closer look at where exactly the conference picked up its Class of 2015 talent:

One obvious note is the number of players from California -- players from the Golden State account for 48 percent of Pac-12 signees in 2015. That’s not too surprising, considering how large and talent-rich the state is. Of the top 25 players in California, 21 signed with Pac-12 schools. The other four signed with Alabama, Tennessee, Notre Dame and San Jose State.

Each Pac-12 program signed at least one player from California in the 2015 class (that’s the only state with which that’s true this season). On average, there are 11 signees from California in each recruiting class this season. Though it’s USC who leads the way with 17 signees from California, Washington State was right on the Trojans’ heels with 16 signees from Cali.

The state of Washington showed out pretty well in the conference. While there was only one player from Washington in the ESPN 300, there were 16 signees from the state who landed with Pac-12 programs.

The only program to not sign a player from the program’s home state was Oregon. However, there were five players from Oregon that did sign with Pac-12 programs. Those players ended up at Arizona (1), Oregon State (2), Stanford (1) and Washington (1).

Players staying home: Arizona and Arizona State signed seven players from Arizona; California, Stanford, UCLA and USC signed 48 players from California; Colorado signed four players from Colorado; Oregon State signed two players from Oregon; Utah signed three players from Utah; and Washington and Wazzu signed a total of nine players from Washington.

The most national class (meaning the team that signed the players from the most number of states) was Stanford, which signed players from 13 states. The least national class was USC, which signed players from just six states.

But what about the concentration of top talent in the 2015 class?

Again, unsurprisingly, California leads the way. The Golden State makes up half of the four-star and five-star players in the 2015 Pac-12 class. USC snagged five-star cornerback Iman Marshall, who hails from Long Beach, California, and 33 of the 66 four-stars in the 2015 class are also from California.

But this is where there’s a bit of a changeup. Of the 14 players from Texas that signed in the 2015 class, five (36 percent) are four-star players who landed at Pac-12 programs. After that -- with the exception of three four-star players from Georgia -- the majority of the top talent, again, hails from the traditional Pac-12 region.

Notably, the conference signed a four-star and five-star player from Hawaii. There were only four players in the state that were four- or five-star players. The two players who didn’t sign with a Pac-12 team went to Texas Tech and BYU. Both had Pac-12 offers.

The conference also cleaned up -- in regard to snagging the limited top talent out of state -- in Nevada. There were only three four-star players in Nevada and two ended up in the Pac-12 (UCLA and USC). The other player signed with Notre Dame.

More impressively, the conference was able to sign one of two four-star players out of Connecticut (TE Chris Clark, UCLA). When considering the distance between Nevada and the Pac-12 and Connecticut and the Pac-12, this is quite a recruiting feat.

As these players get more into the programs and possibly become big Pac-12 contributors, it will only open up these national pipelines more, making the conference’s footprint even bigger.

The Ultimate ESPN 300 is loaded with 14 Pac-12 prospects who didn’t make their respective ESPN 150 or ESPN 300 rankings, so trimming that list to the top five who outperformed their initial rankings and became surprise stars at the college level wasn’t easy. The state of Oregon led the way on this list, but Arizona State and Stanford were also home to a few college stars who didn’t receive the same level of recruiting attention as others.

Signing day for the Class of 2015 just wrapped up, but coaches have been hard at work on the 2016 class for months. Oregon and USC each already have three ESPN Junior 300 prospects committed, and UCLA holds a commitment from the No. 53 overall prospect, tight end Breland Brandt.

Here are five uncommitted 2016 prospects to watch in the West region who will be of particular interest to Pac-12 programs.

The final weekend for official visits before signing day saw some big trips taken to Pac-12 programs and a few important commitments, while one program got started in earnest on 2016 recruiting.

Beavers bag two

Oregon State coaches have rallied their class after taking over in early December. With several top prospects following former head coach Mike Riley to Nebraska and others leaving or being nudged out of the class, Gary Andersen and staff have done a nice job rebounding and filling their 2015 class. The top five commits have all made their pledges since Jan. 17, and two of those came this weekend in running back Deltron Sands and linebacker Christian Folau.

Folau is a former Stanford commit who also looked hard at Oklahoma State, Utah and Wisconsin. He is now the top-ranked prospect in Oregon State's class, while Sands continues the Beavers' reach into Florida. He is the fifth Sunshine State prospect in this class and the fourth to commit to Andersen.

UCLA's final push

The Bruins had several of their committed prospects on campus for official visits this weekend, including cornerback Colin Samuel, who received a strong late push from Michigan in an attempt to bring him out on an official visit. Samuel instead opted to firm up his commitment to the Bruins. He visited UCLA this weekend along with two significant Bruins targets in ESPN 300 cornerback DeChaun Holiday and ESPN 300 defensive tackle Joseph Wicker, both pictured alongside Samuel in this tweet.

Holiday is scheduled to announce his commitment later Sunday, and it would be a huge surprise if the standout defensive back lands anywhere other than UCLA. Wicker will announce on signing day and is down to Arizona State, Texas Tech and UCLA -- but again, he is likely to wind up with the Bruins.

Oregon's other visitors

Plenty of attention was paid late last week to Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams, who could very likely become an Oregon quarterback in the near future. Adams took a visit to Oregon this weekend and has an opportunity, should he choose to take it, to transfer schools without having to sit out a year as a graduate student.

But the Ducks are also looking to finish out the 2015 class at the linebacker position and have their sights set on Washington State commitment Jonah Moi.

USC held its first junior day for 2016 recruits on Saturday, and many of the top prospects in the West region were in attendance. News and photos seemingly came from every recruit in attendance. All told, at least five prospects received offers from USC, including linebackers Curtis Robinson and Krys Barnes, defensive backs Jordan Parker and Shurrod Thompson and wide receiver N'Keal Harry.

The state of Arizona was also well represented, with ESPN Junior 300 cornerback Byron Murphy joining Harry, along with former Arizona and current San Marcos (Calif.) Mission Hills quarterback Dakota Miller.

It's the final weekend for official visits before signing day on Wednesday, Feb. 4, and Pac-12 programs are looking to make that final in-person push as they close in on finishing out their classes. We take a look at the top three visit weekends in the conference.

It was a busy weekend in the conference, as 14 prospects made commitments between Friday and Monday night and several others backed out of Pac-12 recruiting classes. It looks as though this could be a sign of things to come, as the conference recruiting race is heating up with little more than a week until signing day.

Who they want: There aren't many spots left in this class for the Wildcats, but there are a few important names left on the board. The wide receiver spot could see another addition with Jaylinn Hawkins, though rival Arizona State will put up a fight there. Arizona also will look to continue its run of success in Louisiana, as teammates Arthur McGinnis and Darrell Clark (New Orleans/Warren Easton) are two of the top prospects left for the Wildcats, as well as teammates of Arizona commit Kendal Franklin.

Clark would be a significant addition for either program, and the Bruins are hoping they can sway him into becoming the lone true tight end on the roster and a potential immediate-impact player.

UCLA also hosted LSU offensive line commit Maea Teuhema. The nation's No. 71 overall prospect has been committed to the Tigers since February, but the Bruins are looking to make the nation's No. 2 offensive guard part of their strong finish in the state of Texas.

And although not from Texas -- but close enough -- ESPN 300 offensive guard Josh Wariboko could also be part of a massive closing stretch for UCLA. The No. 105 overall prospect was in Los Angeles for the B2G West Coast Bowl over the weekend and had an opportunity to spend time with UCLA commits Colin Samuel and Bolu Olorunfunmi.

While Arizona State hasn't been discussed much in terms of top classes during this recruiting cycle, Todd Graham's program has an opportunity to close in a big way with some impact prospects still on the board. And speaking of impact, Green had an opportunity during his visit to meet an NFL superstar who can make an impact with any recruit (regardless of the typo in his last name).

The new Oregon State coaches hit the ground running when they took over the program after Mike Riley took much of his staff with him to Nebraska. Gary Andersen's staff has reshaped much of the recruiting class and added a big one recently when they were able to flip defensive end Keivonnis Davis from his Syracuse commitment. Davis was on his official visit this weekend and took some time to get to know the Oregon State mascot.

Oregon State is also in on fellow defensive end Simi Moala, who holds offers from Miami, Utah and Washington State. At 6-foot-7 and 220 pounds, Moala is an intriguing prospect along the defensive line.

The Golden Bears have done well at the wide receiver spot in this class, but head coach Sonny Dykes obviously feels there can't be enough talent at that position on his roster. High three-star Texas receiver A.D. Miller took an official visit to Cal over the weekend and had a simple question for Golden Bears fans.

Part of Oregon State's recent run on the recruiting trail has come at the expense of Utah, as former Ute assistant coaches made their way to Corvallis and were able to flip two commitments in the process. But Utah still holds a strong class, especially with the recent flip of former Cal commit Johnny Capra. The offensive tackle makes four nice additions at that position for the Utes, including three-star Arizona prospect Nick Carman, who took his official visit to Utah over the weekend.

The first weekend back from the recruiting dead period saw dozens of prospects taking official visits to Pac-12 campuses. While programs such as Arizona State, Oregon State, UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State all put together solid weekends, no program’s recruits (and parents) were better about documenting the events than Stanford’s, where Big Visit Weekend seemed to go over extremely well with everybody in attendance.

Here is a look through the eyes of recruits on social media at this weekend’s Pac-12 recruiting visits.

Big visit weekend at Stanford

Everything is better when you start off with dessert, and defensive tackle Ross Donelly probably agrees with that sentiment after being welcomed to his visit by two Stanford cupcakes.

Stanford also made sure to introduce prospects to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has become a recruiting staple for the Cardinal. After his cupcakes, Donelly, a four-star uncommitted prospect, made sure to snap a quick photo.

The Utes had several intriguing visitors on campus for official visits and came away with another junior college wide receiver commitment, bringing their total to three juco receivers in this class. Deniko Carter made the call during this visit, and he joins Kyle Fulks and Brandon Snell.

There aren’t many spots left in Arizona’s recruiting class, but the Wildcats are hoping they can finish things off with a couple of teammates in three-star outside linebacker Arthur McGinnis and wide receiver Darrell Clark.

USC was scheduled to have nearly every one of its commitments on hand this weekend, as five early enrollees are already there and 10 commitments were taking official visits. But three huge uncommitted prospects were slated to be in attendance as well, in defensive tackle Rasheem Green, inside linebacker John Houston and athlete Porter Gustin. Here is Green, along with defensive line coach Chris Wilson and his son, Caleb Wilson.

Oregon State coaches have been furiously trying to rebuild the Beavers class after several formerly committed prospects flipped following the departure of Mike Riley. This weekend, Oregon State welcomed a number of visitors, including some position help in the secondary, in cornerback Jay Irvine and safety Treston Decoud.

Washington had several official visitors on campus, including wide receiver commit Andre Baccellia and tight end Ricky McCoy, who apparently hit it off with big-time Washington target Benning Potoa’e, who is down to the Huskies and UCLA, and will likely make his decision shortly following this trip.

I feel like ive known these dudes forever, me and Benning already got it planned, if he comes were rooming up, thats my dude =™=%

The Bruins had a number of 2016 prospects on campus, as UCLA coaches look to get a head start on next year’s class while finishing this one off strong. One of those in attendance was Camilo Eifler, an outside linebacker who already holds Pac-12 offers from Cal, Colorado, Oregon State, UCLA and Washington.

It only makes sense to bookend this post with dessert, and uncommitted safety Kareem Orr provided a shot of his welcome gift from Arizona State. The Sun Devils will need to fend off Clemson, Oklahoma and others to land Orr, but they hope he is part of what could be a huge finish to this class for Arizona State.

With a little more than two weeks before signing day, a number of uncommitted prospects remain who could greatly alter both the college football landscape as well as the way recruiting classes are perceived on Feb. 4. Remaining “must get” recruits don’t check all the same boxes for every program, as some schools already have commitments from their must gets (for example, Arizona with Keenan Walker, or UCLA with Josh Rosen) and some of these prospects won’t exactly break a class if they don’t wind up there. But whether it’s keeping a local prospect at home, landing a five-star standout or filling a position of need, these are the uncommitted must-get recruits for every Pac-12 program between now and signing day.

ESPN 300 running back Austin Joyner has been committed to both Washington and Washington State at various points during his recruiting process, and there's a chance that he could commit to one of those schools yet again when he announces during Sunday's game.

Joyner, the nation's No. 268 prospect, will choose between Boise State, Washington and Washington State, and said he finalized his decision sometime last week.

Joyner has taken official visits to Boise State and Washington, adding that he didn't need to take an official visit to Washington State because he is so familiar with the campus. After he originally committed to Steve Sarkisian when he was at Washington, Joyner pulled away from that commitment when Sarkisian left for USC. Joyner then committed to Washington State, but backed away from that pledge when the Cougars fired their defensive coordinator. Now, Joyner said he's ready to make a final call.

"It's going to feel good once I have it done because I feel like I've made the right decision this time for a bunch of different reasons," Joyner said. "The coaching staff, education and everything that you look at. Before, I wasn't really sure what I should be looking for, but now I'm positive."

Joyner said that his primary position will be cornerback, but he'll be worked into other spots on offense, such as running back.

Folau will make the call

Three-star linebacker Christian Folau plans to announce his decision during the game on Sunday, but there could still be a few twists and turns in his recruitment. Folau, a former Stanford commitment, has had a top three of Oklahoma State, Utah and Wisconsin, but a few coaching changes have thrown a wrinkle in that.

With Gary Andersen moving from Wisconsin to Oregon State, the Beavers are now one of the teams in the mix for the 6-foot, 241-pound linebacker. But that's not the only Pac-12 program that could throw a late wrench in this recruitment. Folau has also been hearing from Oregon, and though the Ducks have yet to offer, they could actually be in the best position for Folau right now. Folau, in fact, still isn't sure which school he wants to commit to.

"I'm still trying to weigh options, solidify offers and see if programs with the coaching carousels that have been going on still want me," Folau said. "I have a feeling Oregon might come in late. I'm still trying to talk to them."

Folau said he understands that the Oregon coaches have been busy with the season continuing for the Ducks, but if an offer comes in from Oregon -- no matter when it happens -- it will alter his recruitment.

"That will change things," Folau said of a possible offer from the Ducks. "They started recruiting me as a sophomore but didn't offer because I was committed to Stanford."

Day 3 standouts

MORE FROM RECRUITING NATION

The Pac-12 and the West region are capable of producing some wild weeks during the lead-up to signing day, with so many prospects in the area waiting until that day to make their commitment and rivals going after so many of the same prospects.

It was a busy weekend in the Pac-12, with commitments, offers, visits and awards touching nearly every team in the conference, including Stanford, USC and Washington reeling in big commitments and UCLA hosting impact prospects. Here is a look at some of the more impactful events of the past few days, as well as a glimpse of what this week could hold in the Pac-12.

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On The Trail is ESPN RecruitingNation's home for all the latest news and information. With some of the nation's top recruiting writers contributing, OTT provides the latest details about commitments, visits and other notes to give fans the most comprehensive recruiting news source in the country.